Public Heroes, Private Felons

I was writing a report for one of my college writing classes about the recent off the field problems that athletes are having today. I had bought Pros and Cons and found it to be interesting and full of facts and stories. However, when I read this book, I was impressed even more. Benedict does a great job of painting the picture of how violent these knucklehead athletes can be. When the victims descibe their beatings, it sends chills up your spine. If anyone who is looking for a behind the glitter and glamour look of today's professional athlete, than they must buy this book.

There is a difference between drawing conclusions from data and the kind of misandry which the NC reader refers to. This book takes a long look at both at both numbers (types of crimes, numbers of felons) and case-study data (individual accounts from the subjects) to support a conclusion that is obvious to all thinking people: violent group behavior is connected to violent individual behavior, especially when groups of men are involved. It is not misandric to develop a hypothesis and then examine whether the data support it or nor; it is, however, irresponsible to make sloppy, defensive, ad hominem attacks on books which scare the hell out of you. This book acts as a mirror to reflect some uncomplimentary facets of male society (and male sports). Readers may not like what they see, but this book (and others by Benedict) prove that you can't just throw names at social problems like these to make them go away. As I am all too well aware, living in the heart of Buckeye country, women pay a terrible price to pay when men's sports (especialy amateur sports) are glorified, and I am thankful when books like Benedict's emerge and help define the extent of such violence nationwide.